Comminuted edible fat for shortening purposes and method of making the



UNITED STATES PTE HENRY A. KOHMAN, TRUMAN- GODFREY, AND LAUREN H. ASHE, OF PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNORS TO WARD BAKING COMPANY, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., A

CORPORATION OF. NEW YORK.

OOMMINUTED EDIBLE FAT FOR SHORTENING PURPOSES AND METHOD OF MAKING THE SAME.

No Drawing.

TRUMAN M. GonrREYfand LAUREN ASHE,

citizens of the United States, residing at Pittsburgh, Allegheny county, State of Pennsylvanla, have invented certain new.

and useful Improvements 'in Comminuted Edible F at for Shortening Purposes and Methods of Making the Same; and we do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same. Y

This invention relates to a pulverulent fat of high melting point adapted for use as a shortening agent in the manufacture-of leavened bread and for food products where shortenin agents of the nature indicated are desira 1e.

In the manufacture of leavened bread, it is customary to incorporate with the flour, yeast, salt, water, milk, and like ingredients of the dough batch, an appropriate quantity of a shortening agent, liquid at ordinary temperatures, and miscible therewith by the usual mixing and .kneading apparatus employed in th trade.

The purpose of this shortening agent, as is well known, is to lessen the toughness of the baked loaf, to mature and age the dough so that its cell walls shall be of a finer, thinner texture, thereby contributing to whitening the loaf and contributing to homogeneity in the size and distribution of the cells in the finished product.

1th the ordinary dough batch, however, it is impracticable to increase the amount of liquid shortening employed beyond well established limits without seriously hampering the bread-making operation and without sacrifice of qualities in the finished product of a highly desirable character. Thus, from the operating standpoint, the dough, instead of being soft and sticky, should be fairly stiff, so that it will not tend to clog the diriding and molding machines, and so that it will have the springiness recognized as desirable inthe dividing and molding opera.- tions. To obtain this stiffness orspringincss of the dough batch, an appropriate amount of water should be employed. It is found, however, that the employment of a Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Dec. 30, 1919.

Application filed March 9, 1916. Serial No. 83,199.

liquid shortening agent (say a vegetable 011, such as cotton-seed oil or the like) materially cuts down the amount of water which the dough will. tolerate, and lessens the desired springiness of th batch. Moreover, in the finished loaf, the proportion of water present is likewise diminished, with a corresponding sacrifice of the normal freshness and flavor of the bread. Further more, to produce the desired shortening effect for bread of high quality, the quantity of the liquid shortener employed, although limited by the considerationsjust referred to, is often relatively considerable,-amountmg, even in ordinary practice, to from two to three per cent. by weight of the flour employed in making up the dough batch.

. It has been commonly considered, heretofore, that hard fats of high melting point are of little or no value as shortening agents, and, so far as we are aware, such fats have not heretofore been successfully used by direct addition and incorporation with the dough batch or its constituents. In the use of shortening agents such as lard, butter, and other compositions of like nature and consistency, it is common practice to mix the lard or other shortening agent directly with the flour} the semi-solid and plastic nature of the lard making it possible to obtain in this way a sufficiently uniform and homogeneous distribution of the shortenmg agent. Such methods are precluded in the case of the solid fats of high melting point, which are too hard to permit of incorporation by mixing at ordinary temperatures.

stituents of the dough batch to produce a homogeneous product.

We have found that, whenvthe hard fat has been reduced to such a fine state of subdivision, the shortening efl'ect produced by its use s equal in value to that produced by a much larger quantity of liquid oil. So,

also, the employment of the hard fat of a sufficiently fine state of sub-division is found to permit the use of sufiicient water not only to supply'the amount required for givlng the desired stiffness and-springiness to the dough, but to supply, in the baed loaf, the quantity recognized as desirable for imparting to the bread the expected freshness and flavor. The employment of the hard fat in the necessary fine state of subdivision as the shortening agent, is likewise found to' add to the keeping qualities of. the loaf, 1n the sense that, even after the loaf has lost its original freshness, it lacks the rancidity frequently met with in ordinary bread which has been kept under the same conditions for the same period of time.

' The hard fat made use of in the novel process of the present invention and in the roduction of the novel product thereof may e either of vegetable or animal origin, as, for instance, hydogenated edible vegetable oil '(say, hydrogenated cotton-seed oil), hydrogenated edible animal oil, or oleo-stearin. In most instances, we prefer to use hydrogenated cotton-seed oil, or other hydrogenated vegetable .oil of an edible character, for the reason that such hydrogenated oils are relatively cheap, and can be h drogenated or hardened up to a high melting point readily and conveniently. Thus, cotton-seed oil, having a melting point of 57 (1, is well adapted 'to the purposes of the invention, and may be instanced as illustrating its preferred practice.

According to the present invention, the hard fat of high melting point is reduced to a sufficiently fine state of sub-division, as above noted, so that it can be incorporated with the dough batch, or with constituents of the dough batch, in a homogeneous manner. fully the preferred method of practising the process of the invention and ,of producing the finely comminuted product.

The hard fat, for example, hydrogenated edible cotton-seed oil, 'havlng a melting polnt of 57 C. is heated above its melting point and, while maintained in a molten state, is atomized or sprayed into a cooling chamber, the spraying or atomizing being so conducted, and the conditions being so calibrated, that the sprayed, melted fat will be deposited in the chamber in the form of an exceedingly fine powder.

We have found thata considerable pro-.

portion of the fine powder thus produced is sufliclently fine to pass through a sieve of about 200 mesh to the square inch, and that such portions of the product are of a subdivision sufliciently fine to be homo eneously absorbed by the dough batch in t e course of the mixing and kneading operation, or to be homogeneously admixed with the flour or other constituents of the dough batch; and that, therefore, such portions of the product are available for use to advantage for short- The following will illustrate more leavened bread which represents a very small fraction of the weight of the cotton-seed oil used ordinarily in making up the dough batch. Where the comminuted fat is of 'a 'sufliciently fine state of subdivision, and is, suitably incorporated with the constituents of the dough'batch, as little as th of the weight of the cotton-seed oil commonly used may be employed. In addition to the material saving in the amount of the shortening agent, the production of a stifi'er and springier dough is made possible, the viscosity of the dough being maintained, even though the absorption is increased, and the resultant baked loaf having the desired amount of moisture to give it the freshness and flavor desired.

Instead of being used directly for incorporation with the ingredients of the material to be shortened, the finely-divided hard a be further facilitated and can be efl ected in a more advantageous manner.

What we claim is:

1. The method of producing a hard fat for shortening purposes in a sufficiently fine state of sub-division to permit of homogeneous incorporation with the constituents of I the material to be shortened, which comprises subjecting the fat to a comminuting operationadapted to give a fine powder containing particles sufliciently fine to pass through a sieve of about-200 mesh to the square'inch, and separating such particles from the comminuted product; substantially as described,

2. The method of producing a hard fat for shortening purposes in a sufliciently fine state of sub-division to permit of homogeneous incorporation With the constituents of the material to be shortened, which comprises atomizing or spraying the fat at a temperature above its melting point into a suitable cooling chamber, and suitably regulating the spraying or atomizing to cause the deposition of the fat in the chamber in the form of'a fine powder whereby a minimum amount of the fat isrequir'ed for shortening; substantially as described.

3. As a new article of manufacture, a pulverulent fat for shortening purposes, comprising a hard fat of high melting point in the form of discrete particles and of a sufficient fineness to pass through a sieve of about'200 mesh to the square inch and to perm-it of homogeneous incorporation with theiconstituents of the material to be shortened and to enable a marked economy to be efl'ected in the amount of fat required for shortening; substantially as described.

V 4:. As a new article of manufacture, a pulcient fineness to pass through a sieve of about 200 mesh to the square inch and to permit of homogeneous incorporation with the constituents of the material to be short ened and to enable a marked economy to be effected in the amount of fat required for shortening, said fat being in homogeneous admixture with a pulverulent material; substantially as described.

In testimony whereof we aifix our signa- 30 tures.

HENRY A. KOHMAN. TRUMAN M. GODFREY. LAUREN H. ASHE. 

